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Hello Haukur, I think it depends on what we mean by depth-of-field, which is a phenonomenon of lens-based media, and deep focus or deep staging, which is to have objects in focus in foreground and background. The latter is technically very difficult to achieve as it requires a lot of extra lighting and often special lenses. It's probably safe to say that Welles did some interesting things with depth-of-field, but it could hardly count as a discovery, less so for deep staging. One interesting example of its consequences is Sacha Vierney's development of a split lens in the 1960s which enables the camera to combine an extreme close-up with a sharp focus background. Some films (such as Marienbad, for which it was developed) would be very different without it. The effect is still used though it tends to show a band of out-of-focus content down the middle of the image (unless removed by CGI). Interestingly, d-o-f effects are now added in to CGI movies (Toy Story 2 has a good example). A lot of depth of field problems were solved in the 1930s with matte paint and locked cameras. All best Damian On 24/01/2011 16:36, "Haukur Már Helgason" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > OK, hi everyone, and thanks for keeping this great discussion board going. > > I have a terribly elementary question to ask Š and yet something > that's been haunting me for years. Orson Welles' reputation depends to > a large extent on his 'discovery' of depth-of-field and its > application. I've both seen the relevant films, of course, and read > about the importance of this element at the birth of modern cinema all > over texts where it is explained, but more frequently where it's > simply presumed. And it just doesn't stick. What is so significant, > really, about depth-of-field or deep focus? Would any narrative, or > anything that cinema has revealed to us since that time, be > unthinkable without it? What would be the most remarkable examples of > its consequences? > > Kindly yours, > > Haukur Már Helgason. > > -- > Film-Philosophy > After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are > replying to > To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask] > Or visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/film-philosophy.html > For technical help email: [log in to unmask], not the list > -- > Film-Philosophy journal: http://www.film-philosophy.com/ > Film-Philosophy Conference (6-8 July 2011): > http://www.film-philosophy.com/conference/ > Contact: [log in to unmask] > -- -- Dr Damian Sutton Reader in Photography Department of Art and Design School of Arts and Education Middlesex University Cat Hill Campus Chase Side Barnet, Herts. EN4 8HT Tel. (0)208 411 6827 Homepage: http://damiansutton.wordpress.com -- Film-Philosophy After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask] Or visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/film-philosophy.html For technical help email: [log in to unmask], not the list -- Film-Philosophy journal: http://www.film-philosophy.com/ Film-Philosophy Conference (6-8 July 2011): http://www.film-philosophy.com/conference/ Contact: [log in to unmask] --